A real legendary player wakes up at 5:30AM and runs laps around the neighborhood block, preparing both mentally and physically for the daily grind about to ensue. And don’t forget, every Legendary rank player swallows half-a-dozen raw eggs before entering the tavern.
Hearthstone is like a marathon: it requires dedication, discipline, and determination. And if you’re here, you have none. But when it comes to Hearthstone, it’s not how you start, it’s about how you finish…in the Legendary ladder.
Here are five tips from legendary player PeaceAlien. You can check out his YouTube channel InstaLockLoL here and his Twitch stream here.
It’s not this hard:
Get cards
If you’re a new player, basic cards won’t be enough. This is where Hearthstone’s pay-to-win mechanics come into play. Thankfully, you can get cards by spending most of your free time grinding through wins and losses via Constructed or Arena. Or, you can ascend rather quickly by spending hard-earned cash and gamble it away with Hearthstone’s booster packs. Depends what you’d rather sacrifice: time or money.
Common advice is to focus on one deck and build your card collection towards it. Strong contenders that are affordable include any Hunter deck as they pretty much utilize basic cards. Some older versions of Zoo are still worthy. And the new Grim Patron deck is affordable in terms of dust (it can work without legendary cards). But, another route is to focus on key meta-specific cards. For example, Dr. Boom’s and those Pesky Giants’ counter Big Game Hunter. If you read our previous article on “How To Beat Face Hunter in Hearthstone,” you can find some suggestions on key cards to withstanding an aggressive and brutal meta.
You need time and patience
“Everyone get in here!”
Legendary is not a casual rank. If you are at least rank 14 you’re technically in the top 25% of all Hearthstone players. But if you want to rise above the rest, it requires both time and patience to ascend. Even if you spend hundreds of dollars acquiring all those fancy Legendary Cards, they will not guarantee you success in ranked play. For example, this month one of the first players to reach Legendary, Lynx, spent 22 hours to reach Legendary rank. And that is going at a “fast pace.” For many players, such as PeaceAlien, it isn’t until about half-way through the month he reaches Legendary rank.
No Legendary player is a god at Hearthstone. You are bound to have unlucky streaks of luck, but don’t let that discourage or frustrate you. When PeaceAlien loses four games in a row, that is a signal to take a break. If the brain is overloaded with stress or anxiety, it is going to make very poor decisions, and the secret to winning Hearthstone (surprise-surprise) is not owning Legendary cards, but fine-tuned decision making.
Net decking is a thing
If you are trying to re-invent the wheel, then you will remain in the bottom 75% of players. The Legendary players, basically, set the standards for the meta every month. Real innovation occurs in the Legendary ranks, so don’t be discouraged from visiting Top Hearthstone Decks for the top decks that month. Checking out streams of popular players, or legendary players in general such as the magnificent PeaceAlien, will sharpen your eye for what is good and what is not. PeaceAlien’s ultimate advice: copy your favorite streamer because they can become a valuable reference for playing a Net Deck. Every deck has a certain play-style or nuance to be mastered. Simply copying decks from sites such as Top Hearthstone Decks won’t rocket jump you into the Legendary rank.
Decks that are successful end up in the Legendary ranks. So there is no shame in net decking. Think of it this way: if time is required to rise the ranks, then being time efficient via net decking is the best course of action. If you spend all your time trying to invent tricky or gimmicky decks, you’re less likely to ascend to the Legendary rank. And, honestly, pretty much everyone you are going to face on the ladder is net decking, so don’t be the hipster fool.
Become a master of one deck or a master of the meta
“Back from the junk-heap…”
On the one hand, you can become Legendary by mastering one deck very well. This has worked out well for Fibonacci for example who only plays control warrior. For the three previous months to May, Fibonacci was Rank 1 Legend at the Month’s end. This method allows you to understand all of a certain decks strengths and weaknesses and adjust accordingly to the meta.
On the other hand, mastering the meta is a valuable strategy. For example, if you begin facing a horde of Face Hunter lowlifes, you can switch out your deck to something that counters Face Hunter. Switching decks from time to time can get you out of a slump. Getting bored of playing the same deck over and over again messes with your decision making skills Consider variety a key to success! Along with that, if you’re facing decks that consistently beat yours, it is time to try something new.
Sometimes answering the meta, however, is not changing your deck. Maybe you just need to switch our less effective cards for the effective ones. Seeing a lot of Face Hunter, maybe it is time for Antique Healbot. Seeing a lot of secrets, maybe it is time for Kezan Mystic. Dr. Boom and his Decepticons getting you down, maybe it’s time for Big Game Hunter.
Learn from your mistakes because you’re going to make them
The most valuable skill to any Hearthstone player—Legendary or not—is the ability to assess and analyze your mistakes. At the close of every turn, you should be asking yourself, “what did I do wrong, and what should I have done instead?” There are many things to think about when it comes to assessing your turns. Every turn there is obviously more than one possible play (save for those tricky turn ones). And you should be asking yourself as the match progresses: “Should I be playing aggressivly or defensively?”
And this is where “master of the meta” comes in handy: you should be thinking about what your opponent could possibly play in response to you. How will it affect your cards or board control? And how will it affect your opponents turn. If they spend their turn hard removing one of your threats, for example, that could be a big waste of their turn. You could try to think turns in advance, but if you can’t that’s fine. Just because you pushed the End Turn button, doesn’t mean you have to turn off your brain.
If you either win or lose, you can always think about how the game could have went better. TotalBiscuit frequently employs this self-critical method. One player, LifeCoach1981, for example, can’t decide what to do when there are many possible plays on the board, screenshots the game to examine it later. He is famous for “roping” as he uses the entire turn time to decide his move. Hence why patience is a key virtue to being a Legendary ranked player.